Auld Lang Syne ...

Well, 2021 has not been a kind year to me. So I'm ready to say goodbye, and maybe I can move on with my life when the clock strikes midnight tomorrow night! 

The most critical thing that happened this year in my life was the loss of my partner of 58 years (plus two more during which we were dating and then engaged).  So really 60 years!  Wendell.  Oh, I do not have any words that can describe how I feel about that.  When my NP prescribed prozac, maybe I should have taken them.  I thought "I'm strong; I can do this without being medicated!"  But I'm still crying every day, sometimes multiple times a day.  So I guess I'm not adjusting like I thought I would.  I keep waiting for something to happen to point me in the direction I should be going.  Haven't seen the exit sign yet.  But I'm hanging on because I know that eventually I'll get back on the right track.  I do know this: I go for lots of drives in the country and I know I'm searching for something.  One of these days I'll find it!

Well ... what's been on my mind as the year closes.  Yes.  It has to get better.  Because, besides the death of my husband, and in spite of having the shot (I refuse to call it a vaccine) I still got covid19.  It sure wasn't fun.  "They say" it would have been a lot worse if I hadn't had the shot?  Really?  I think that I'm now just another guinea pig in this big science experiment.  I did some reading today back on some of the things "they say" we should/shouldn't be doing.  It's sure changed over the past year and a half!  Like I say -- science experiment.

Looking back through my photos, here's what I've saved recently.  You'd think that with all the driving I've been doing I would find something interesting to photograph (maybe I should start take pictures while I'm out there wandering about).  I tracked the corn and bean harvest this fall, watched the Amish pumpkin and mum patches mature, noticed that around here things remained green all summer (we had lots of rain I guess), saw numerous large old barns and old houses that Wendell would have loved seeing, stopped at a few yard sales but rarely bought anything, drove through countless tiny country towns -- I am amazed at how many little towns there are just in my county and up in Jay County.  And over the line in western Ohio.  Oh, I have a long way I can still go before I run out of roads to drive and don't have to take an overnight bag ...

But anyway:

I've made several trips to the antiques mall in the old Jay Garment factory in Portland. These two photos are a good example of their eclectic mix of vendors. Something about this particular booth caught my eye. I love the various arms and legs on the shelf. It is a HUGE place and well worth a visit if you're ever through Portland!

 

These two photos were taken outside the Pennville General Store (in Pennville!).  It's a dandy little store right on Indiana highway 1; only open Friday & Saturday. I bought the neatest decorative metal containers there (hmmm ... I have purchased a few metal containers lately) and some Christmas ornaments at their holiday open house. Been there a couple times now and I'll go back again to see what's old/new. Problem is, just about a year ago we had an auction and I sold just the sort of things I'm now re-buying ...

Drove by the place where my old school used to be, one mile west of Petroleum (also on Indiana highway 1). This was sad to me; I've been by here before and still old pieces of concrete and brick are working their way up out of the farm field. I went to this school grades 1-12; they consolidated in 1967 with three other schools to form Southern Wells Community School. Don't you love the original names they gave these consolidations? LOL!

I attend to a great knit & crochet group that meets weekly in Farmland. These were for show n' tell last week: Becca is in the process of making all of these granny squares into lap robes!  Awesome! She does wonderful work. People donate yarn to the group and these were all made from those donations. She is an awesome craftsperson AND one of the most interesting people I've met here.

New mural in Portland, Indiana! It's on the side of a building next to an old, abandoned Clark's station that I used to go to as a teenager. Memories! There are lots of murals in towns around here and I have been photographing them. I actually happened to be going through town the day the artist was working on this and sat in the Dollar store parking lot, next door, and watched him for a while. It was a hot day...

Well, adieu 2021!  I'm ready for a new year.  Sadness is not a good thing but it's my life ... right now.  So here's to better things in 2022!  God bless us all!

Back from a short break ...

Sorry it's been so long since I wrote here!  You know, I write in a journal several times a week.  For a while I'll be very faithful and write every day, then I'll turn around, see the book and think 'I haven't written anything since last week/month/year ...'  So I guess that's why I've taken off from writing here.  I've been a faithful journal-er lately.  Plus, my life is just so different now!  Sigh.  One of the things I add every day I write is a good memory of Wendell.  The funeral director challenged me to do that and has truly made me happy to think back on the good days.

Plus, even though I had the shot and have been pretty careful where I go and what I do, I still got the COVID.  Must say, it's the sickest I can remember being from the aspect of coughing, breathing issues and feeling just beat up.  No fever though.  That's why I put off getting tested, because I never had a fever.  But after about 4 days I drove down to the testing site (just a hop, skip and jump away from me) and what do you know ... I tested positive on both the 15 minute test and the longer test.  (You know, that was one test I wouldn't have minded not passing.)  Anyway, no one wanted to be around me and I've just got back 'out' this week.  I stayed isolated for about 3 1/2 weeks.  My son, Adrian, called me almost every day and I believe he helped me keep my sanity from the isolation.  He and his wife had it, too, much more serious than I did.  If he hadn't kept me bucked up and told me of their experiences and gave me advise, I don't know how I could have made it.  Tomorrow I'll go back to church; missed 4 weeks.  Went to hook n' crochet on Wednesday, and Jeff and Jane had me over for a casual Thanksgiving lunch Thursday.  So it's all good.  I wonder if we'll ever be over this and/or be normal again in this country.  I certainly don't want to get covid again, but I'm thinking it could happen.

Let me see what I have in the way of photos ... don't think much.  Maybe I'll show you some of the murals around here!  Yeah ... here's just a few.

I went to Bluffton in September and had lunch with my sister, then "did" downtown Bluffton.  Didn't take long (LOL!).  Now that wasn't nice; they do have a couple good antiques shops and a nice consignment shop.  Here's a new mural that was recently put on the side of the building west of the court house.  When I was a kid there was a J.C. Penney store where that flower bed is now ...

On the NE corner of Main & Market in Bluffton -- the 'main intersection' -- is this interesting mural.  Those are the only two murals I found in Bluffton.  This is in Wells County, where I grew up.

This mural is in downtown Dunkirk.  It is huge!  They've stuck a lot in that mini-park, too, besides benches and landscaping -- little lending library and a food pantry box.  The next block over is a great little pub called The Glass Capital Grill.  It's all about glass in Dunkirk, museum and all...

 
I included this little mural because it's on the side of the Farmland Community Center where I spend each Wednesday a.m. crocheting with a nice group of women (and one man on occasion).  Red Gold is famous all over Indiana.

On the plus side, since I wrote here last, I got the flooring guy to come and now I have beautiful hard floors all over the condo except the two bedrooms, where they put down cushy new carpet.  (Wow!  Wendell would have loved this.  So many things like that now; I talk to him sometimes and I cry almost every day.  Don't think that will ever stop.)  Also, I got the garage door man to come and repair my garage door so it will be more weather tight for winter.  Now, if they could just fix the leak in my roof ... (never happy are we).

Well, that's all for now.  I think I'll decorate for Christmas this coming week.  How's your Christmas prep going?  God bless you all and have a great week.  And remember, you can tell God ANYTHING and he will listen and not judge!

Autumn is my favorite time of year!

I love the change of seasons in Indiana.  I think I would get so tired if it was always nice, or always rainy (like in the NW), or always hot.  So I'm enjoying this fall weather.  Today it's very windy. So much so that it's blowing up my outdoor rug on the patio, flipping chairs and actually blowing the water out of the bird bath!  I thought it was windy in the country up on the hill; that was nothing compared to what I have here.  In fact, I have had a persistent leak down my furnace exhaust and into the utility closet, and after the repair guy finally got "exhausted" he's telling me the HVAC people say the exhaust is just sucking up the rain because it is so windy right here.  So there ...  NOW.  Whenever something like that happens to me now I think of what Wendell would do/say/think/curse over, etc. ... LOL!  He would not be buying that story I can tell you that.  But there it is.  I have to deal with it.  That's the beginning of the story of how a new widow makes her way in the world.  LOLOLOL!  It's been interesting so far.  

I know that things are different now, AC (after covid) but really, why doesn't any repair person answer their phone at least to say 'sorry, I'm covered up and can't get to you until 2023'.  But no.  They just don't return your calls.  So I have calls out to electricians, HVAC people and flooring people, and I'm not holding my breath till they call back.  At least I found a good plumber ...

Someone asked me how I fill my time now and, well, I do a lot of driving around.  Exploring my new world.  I still have a long way to go (within one day) until I've seen everything I want to see and go everywhere I want to go.  Soon I'll start packing an overnight bag.  I'm not kidding.  Also, I've been doing some needlepunch and lots of crochet.  I've crocheted about a dozen washcloths and several lap robes.  Also crocheting a neat scarf for myself.  I've been quilting some.  But no rug hooking; haven't pulled a loop since retreat in March.  And I try to walk a little every day (unless the weather won't cooperate).  Found out my right knee is now bone-on-bone so my walking is not a lot but a little.  

Well, let me look at my photos and share some with you.  They tell what I've been up to more than anything.

Found this old photo of mom in a book recently.  Guess I was using it as a bookmark.  Actually, I've been through lots of photos recently.  I laugh, I cry ... it's my life.

These two murals are in Portland.

They also have a new one that is being worked on right now.  I take

lots of mural photos now and I'll share them, too.

This mural is in a stairwell in Geneva.  For a split-second when I first saw it I thought it was a real person.  It's right next to an antiques store and on the side of the library building.

Did I already show you this quilt top?  (Sorry if I did.)  I guess it is one of the favorite things I have made recently.  Sent it along to Jane to be quilted and donated to the HEbron Boys Home in Lyons, Indiana.  It was fun to work on!

Well, next time I'll share some sayings plaques I've come across in antiques shops recently.  I'm collecting photos of them ... not buying them.  LOL!

Till next time, stay strong and make good use of each day.  God bless you.

My life goes on ...

I thought I'd post some photos with a little info about some things that happened in my life recently and also not so recently.  Some memories, things done, things seen, etc.  I don't have as much enthusiasm as I used to have for what I see because I don't have my best friend to share it all with.  So take this as I throw it out ... no particular order.

We went to Bear's Mill just east of Greenville back in the winter.  It was really interesting place to tour and we had a wonderful drive that day, too.  Besides touring the working mill they have an art gallery where we bought some Christmas gifts and a pretty good-sized gift shop.  And very nice volunteer workers.  What a dream job!  Here's Wendell looking at the area where the grain is fed down to the stones to be ground.  As you can see we were dutifully masked... 

Here's a wonderful standing desk that was on the second level of the mill.  Just one piece of many up there that I took photos of; too many to bore you with.

This photo was taken at the candy shop in Farmland!  Oh my!  It's a wonderful place.  And to add the cherry on top, there's another large room with antiques right there!  My ideal place to spend an hour or so.  Yes, we took home some candy.

I completed this flannel raggedy quilt in the winter.  It's very warm!  Almost too much so.  You should have seen the lint filter at the laundromat when we were done!  

One day we drove to Fort Recovery and did the town.  Visited monument park where this obelisk stands commemorating two battles that were fought here over 200 years ago.  It's a lovely park and it was a good day of walking here, at the other park in town where the fort is (as in Ft. Recovery), and downtown.  They have a lovely little downtown with a brick street.  And a wonderful furniture store, too BTW ...

When I was wandering one day, trying to drive my blues away, I found the highest spot in Indiana and it is right here in Randolph County!  Bet you didn't know that ...

I finished this twin-size flannel quilt that I'm going to give to the Journey Home, here in Winchester, when the weather starts getting cooler.  It's a shelter for veterans who are having difficulties.  And unfortunately it is badly needed here ... and elsewhere I'm thinking.  This was made from the left-overs of my raggedy quilt.

I met Deb H. at Cambridge City about a month ago and I went to the Overbeck Museum there before Deb made it to town (she lives in Indy).  It was very interesting.  I would LOVE to own a piece of their pottery but it is very rare and $$$.  My big surprise was that besides the usual pottery, they also did painting, sculpture, and other forms of art.  Four very talented women.  I bought a book about them and am in the process of slugging through it.  And Cambridge City is a wonderful place if you like antiques!!!  Just sayin ...

I made this quilt and have had it quilted just within the past three months.  Used up lots of scraps.  Made it in queen-size and am thinking I will use it on a new bed for me.  Smaller bed.  Lonelier bed.  Cold bed.

I'll close with this interesting silo photo.  When I saw it from the highway I turned around and went back to take the picture.  It's on a side road so I wasn't impeding traffic.  How about this?  And it's a pretty good sized tree.  I think I'll go back and check it out some day to see if it's living.

Well, I'm trying to adjust to this new life alone.  But it is not easy.  At my grief support group last week there was a new guy.  Dave.  He lost his wife in January and he had a very interesting story that I won't go into completely, but briefly, he said that his wife had developed Alzheimers disease about 7 years ago and the last 2 or 3 years she didn't even know who he was.  He kept her at home and never had her put in a nursing home.  He loved her very much.  He is devastated now without his 'job' of being her caregiver.  So, whose grief is worse?  Someone who sees their spouse die slowly or someone who looses their spouse suddenly?  Remember, it's not a contest.  Both Dave and I are in pretty sorry shape.

But I'm going to keep moving along.  It's my life.  Now.

In memory ...

What a change in my life!  I've lost my sweetheart, my best friend, my husband.  Even though it's been more than two months since Wendell died, I am still too emotional to write much.  But I thought I'd just share some photos of him.  It may not do anything for you, but I think it will help me.  Thank you.  And really, thanks to all of my friends and family who have written and called and said such kind words about him.  It's been overwhelming.  And it has meant a lot to me and the boys.

**************

That's my guy.  I love you Wendell.